And your patience is rewarded! Here it is, the last in the basic Cold Process series. This episode is all about how to color your soap. I talk about (and demonstrate) how to use Micas, Oxides and LabColors. And I show how morphing isn’t always bad. Happy Soaping!
How to Make Cold Process Soap: Using Colorants, Episode 4 from Soap Queen on Vimeo.
Safety First! Watch the first video in this series “Lye Safety and Ingredients” Before attempting to make the soap demonstrated in this video. While you’re at it – maybe you should watch the second video “Basic Terms” so you are fully prepared to make a successful batch of CP soap.
Recipe:
7 oz Coconut Oil
7 oz Palm Oil
7 oz Olive Oil
1 oz Castor Oil
7.3 oz Distilled Water
3.1 oz Sodium Hydroxide
Heat Safe and Non-Reactive Containers and Utensils
Stick Blender
Colorants used:
Red Mica
Cellini Blue Mica
Ultramarine Violet
Fuchsia LabColor
Just wondering about the use of food coloring in CP soap. Seems there are different opinions on this. What is your take? Does it work well?
Thanks.
Hi Natasha!
Food coloring can work in cold process soaps, but because it is an FD&C colorant it will eventually bleed into the other colors. We don’t normally suggest using food colorant because of that reason, but it can give you a cool effect like these soaps:
http://www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/cold-process-soap/let-it-bleed-cold-process-soap-color-gradation-tutorial/
I hope this helps!
-Becky with Bramble Berry
I made my first batch of cp soap but it’s almost 18 hours and it is still soft how long will it take for the soap to get hard for me to cut and cure? Thanks in advance 😉
For your standard CP soap recipe, it usually takes 24-48 hours to harden up and unmold. But it really depends on your recipe. It may also take longer to harden up if you’re using individual molds (opposed to a log mold). Patience is the hardest part of soapmaking!
Courtney from Bramble Berry
It can be; it depends on what it’s colored with. Here’s a more detailed article I wrote about the subject. Feel free to ask more questions after reading it:
http://teachsoap.com/colorants… =)
What is mica? Is it 100% natural?
Generally no. They have different solvents to make them wax soluble and typically these are not skin safe. In addition, the colorants don’t have quite the stringent safety and purity requirements of colorants for soap. You can, however, use food coloring if you have some on hand. 🙂
Happy Soaping!
Anne-Marie
http://www.brambleberry.com
Blog: http://www.soapqueen.com
Can you use candle dye in CP soap ? I have a set of “Craft Candles liquid dye” but I cannot find any info on them anywhere. Thank you 🙂
I’m so glad that you were able to get it out of the mold – and what an hilarious way to describe the technique you used! =)
Ok, so I froze the soap to “pop” it out and as my nephew described me: “There’s a lil asian lady bouncing ontop of a mold in the kitchen!”.. suffice it to say, he was able to finally get the soap to release and I have it cut and curing now. Photos to follow, I’m going to use my tabletop photobox set up to take the pictures.. finally dusting off the gift my husband bought for me last year! Thanks again Anne-Marie.. now I just need to create a custom signature CP recipe and can restart my business again!
Thanks Anne-Marie.. had to check, didn’t want to ruin my first 4lb batch by tossing it into the big freeze when I shouldn’t have. Photos to follow shortly..!! woohooo!
Toss it in the freezer for sure – I liberally do that with CP and it helps a lot!
I’ll send photos as soon as I can get the soap out of the mold.. it won’t release! LOL! The batch traced wonderfully and pretty quick.. in about 10 min to a nice thick/smooth custard consistency.. figured it would set hard enough that I wouldn’t have to line the plastic log mold.. LOL shoulda, woulda, coulda! Lesson learned! Can I toss the mold into the freezer for ease of release or will that work? I know it does for MP..
I’m so glad that Soap Queen TV helped you conquer your first batch of CP. Congratulations! I have a feeling your going to be hooked. I would love to see pictures =)
Thanks Anne-Marie for this series.. I finally made my first batch of CP soap yesterday.. a simple eucalypta-mint eo blend without any fancy colors or additives like mint leaf powder.. wanted to keep it simple! It turned out relatively ok.. so far!! Still in the mold, have another 24 hrs before I pop it out and cut them bars up to cure. But it smells wonderful and color is a nice creamy off white.. fingers crossed! Couldn’t have done it without you! My MP days are coming to an end now that I lost my CP cherry! LOL thanks again!
They’re super simple to use with no major extra mixing or pre-mixing needed so that’s one of the reasons I like to use them.
I really never thought how LabColors would be used but I do now!
Thanks for the great instruction Anne-Marie
That may be due to the fact that your peppermint oil is a deep yellow or orange color? And the color of the oil is actually coloring your soap? Use a neutral colored oil like Sweet Almond to make sure it doesn’t interfere or even water if you are using water soluble colorants.
I made the examples in our Heavy Duty Rectangle mold. You can find it here https://www.brambleberry.com/Gu… Thanks for asking – I’ll add that to the supply list now too! 🙂
Pre-Mixing your micas is a great way to be extra sure that you don’t have any clumps. But I find that a good spin of the stick blender works really well for thoroughly blending in most powdered colorants.
Thumbs up! Great video!
Thanks Anne Marie, I mix my oxides in a little oil prior to mixing the colors seem to stay and are more even. My pepermint oil seems to make the green go red. Any tips for this? I used the green oxide before and it seemes to help. Thanks for your tips they are always helpful.
Abenaa
I like all the colorants and what kind of mold was that? You mentioned it in the end ??? LOL
neeto! I’m glad this video came out, I haven’t started coloring my soaps yet. I couldn’t imagine my reaction if I wanted a blue soap and it came out purple.
Thanks! I noticed you didn’t premix the micas or pigments with oil before adding them to the soap. Is that not necessary or is it just a personal preference?
Kewl! Very pretty, although I love a plain, non-colored bar of soap too. 🙂